How to pronounce “begin”
Say “begin” in 2 beats
begin
/bɪˈɡɪn/
The voice you hear here is American; the British form is /bɪɡɪn/ (see the table below), and a British voice is available in the app's settings.
- begbɪ
- inɡɪnstress
- IPA (American)
- /bɪˈɡɪn/
- IPA (British)
- /bɪɡɪn/
- Respelling
- bi-GIN
- Syllables
- 2 — beg-IN
- Stress
- Stress the second syllable: beg-IN. “in” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllable falls away from it.
- Part of speech
- noun, verb
- Difficulty
- Beginner — most learners get this on the first take
American and British are not the same here
/bɪˈɡɪn/
/bɪɡɪn/
No audio here: sayit’s voice is American, so a British button would play the American word. Read the transcription instead.
What “begin” means
- noun
Israeli statesman (born in Russia) who (as prime minister of Israel) negotiated a peace treaty with Anwar Sadat (then the president of Egypt) (1913-1992)
- verb
take the first step or steps in carrying out an action
“We began working at dawn”
- verb
have a beginning, in a temporal, spatial, or evaluative sense
“The DMZ begins right over the hill”
Say it in a sentence
“The classes begin again the first week of September.”The sounds inside this word
Each sound has its own page: where the tongue goes, what it is usually confused with, and words to drill it on.
“begin”, answered
How do you pronounce “begin”?
“begin” is pronounced /bɪˈɡɪn/ (bi-GIN) in American English and /bɪɡɪn/ in British English — 2 syllables, stressed on “in”. Build it as beg-IN, then run the second syllable a little longer than the rest and let the others reduce.
How many syllables does “begin” have?
2: beg · in. The beat lands on the second, “in”.
Is “begin” said differently in British English?
Yes. American English says /bɪˈɡɪn/ (bi-GIN); British English says /bɪɡɪn/. Both are correct — choose the accent you are learning and stay inside it.
What does “begin” mean?
As a noun: Israeli statesman (born in Russia) who (as prime minister of Israel) negotiated a peace treaty with Anwar Sadat (then the president of Egypt) (1913-1992) For example: “The classes begin again the first week of September.” It carries 2 other senses as well — all of them said the same way.
Where is the stress in “begin”?
Stress the second syllable: beg-IN. “in” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllable falls away from it.
Now say “begin” and see every sound
Record it once and sayit lines your audio up against the target sound by sound — what landed, what slipped, and what it sounded like instead.